NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NeoStem, Inc. (NYSE:NBS) ("NeoStem" or the "Company"), an emerging market leader in the fast growing cell therapy industry, today announced that the Company has completed the divestiture of its 51% ownership interest in Suzhou Erye Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. ("Erye"), a China-based generic pharmaceutical company. The divestiture provides NeoStem with $12,280,000 in cash and removes from the Company's balance sheet over $30 million in short and long-term debt obligations. Erye also returns 1,040,000 shares representing approximately 0.7% of the Company's outstanding common stock, 1,170,000 stock options representing approximately 5.1% of the Company's outstanding options and 640,000 warrants to purchase common stock held by Erye representing approximately 1.1% of the Company's outstanding warrants.